{"id":222303,"date":"2026-09-14T14:19:37","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T19:19:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=222303"},"modified":"2026-09-14T14:19:37","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T19:19:37","slug":"major-name-reportedly-expected-to-sign-with-aew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/09\/14\/major-name-reportedly-expected-to-sign-with-aew\/","title":{"rendered":"Major name reportedly expected to sign with AEW"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-1250693715\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>Former WWE wrestler Ilja Dragunov is reportedly expected to sign with AEW.<\/p>\n<p>Dragunov, a former WWE U.S. Champion, departed from WWE when his contract expired recently.\u00a0 He did not have a 90-day clause in his contract and is currently set to sign with AEW barring any unforseen circumstances according to a report from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/fightful\/posts\/news-on-major-169518361\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fightful Select.<\/a> It isn&#8217;t clear yet whether or not Dragunov has signed his deal yet, but he has been working with AEW to finalize a deal according to the report.<\/p>\n<p>Dragunov will be able to continue to use the name &#8220;Ilja&#8221; going because it is his real first name, but right now it is unclear whether or not he will still be able to use &#8220;Dragunov&#8221; even though he has been using that name throughout his career. One issue that has had an impact on Dragunov and other recent WWE departures that aren&#8217;t from the U.S. is that they have faced visa issues that have affected their ability to start with a new company according to the report.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Check out the latest episode of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post-show covering the latest episode of Dynamite: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/episode\/aew-dynamite-post-show-9-9-keller-lansdell-discuss-an-emotional-episode-with-rebel-and-heartfelt-memories-of-the-butcher-more--75039898\">CLICK HERE<\/a> (or search \u201cwade keller\u201d on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"AEW DYNAMITE POST-SHOW (9\/9): Keller &amp; Lansdell discuss an emotional episode with Rebel and heartfelt memories of The Butcher, more\" src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?episode_id=75039898&amp;theme=light&amp;playlist=false&amp;playlist-continuous=false&amp;chapters-image=true&amp;episode_image_position=right&amp;hide-logo=false&amp;hide-likes=false&amp;hide-comments=false&amp;hide-sharing=false&amp;hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"200px\" frameborder=\"0\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Wade Keller Post-show (9\/9) - AEW Dynamite w\/Keller &amp; Lansdell\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lywpxHPR0lE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-3978518421\"><div id=\"pwtor-694654163\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Former WWE wrestler Ilja Dragunov is reportedly expected to sign with AEW. Dragunov, a former WWE U.S. Champion, departed from WWE when his contract expired recently.\u00a0 He did not have a 90-day clause in his <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/09\/14\/major-name-reportedly-expected-to-sign-with-aew\/\" title=\"Major name reportedly expected to sign with AEW\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":206549,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6163,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-222303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aew-news","category-prowrestlingnews"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2025\/10\/Screenshot-2025-10-25-at-11.03.22-PM.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222303"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":222308,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222303\/revisions\/222308"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}